The Los Angeles Lakers earned a big overtime win over the Utah Jazz at Staples Center on Saturday afternoon, and now the two teams return to the court on Monday night to finish up their two-game miniseries.
Saturday’s win was a back-and-forth affair as the Lakers blew a double-digit fourth-quarter lead with Jordan Clarkson drilling a late three to give the Jazz a two-point lead. Dennis Schroder responded with a layup to send the game to overtime, and then the Lakers proceeded to take control in the extra period to earn the double-digit win.
Both teams were shorthanded in the game with the Lakers missing both of their stars in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, of course. The Jazz were without Donovan Mitchell, who sprained his ankle in the previous game, as well as Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley and Derrick Favors, who sat out the second game of a back-to-back.
There was some hope that Davis would return for Monday’s game, but he has been officially ruled out, so the Lakers are again without their two stars.
Meanwhile for Utah, Mitchell is likely out once again while the other three that missed Saturday’s game could potentially return to action. Gobert and Conley are both listed as probably while Favors is questionable.
In the first contest, the Lakers really dominated inside, outscoring the Jazz 64-38 in the paint. That was led by Andre Drummond’s game-high 27 points on an efficient 10-of-15 shooting.
They likely won’t have that kind of success inside this time around though with a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Gobert manning the paint for the Jazz.
One thing the Lakers are going to have to limit on the other end of the floor is Utah’s 3-point shooting in order to keep up with them offensively. The Jazz shot an impressive 23-of-59 (39%) from three on Saturday and currently lead the league with 16.9 made threes per game this season.
While the Lakers aren’t known for their shooting, some of their deep threats like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Markieff Morris and Alex Caruso have all been shooting it well lately. So the hope is that continues and the Lakers could sweep this two-game series from the Jazz, who they could eventually see again down the road in the postseason.
Lakers (35-22) vs. Jazz (42-15)
7:00 p.m. PT, Apr. 19, 2021
Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
TV: ESPN
Radio: 710 AM ESPN L.A.
Projected Lakers Starting Lineup:
PG: Dennis Schroder
SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
SF: Kyle Kuzma
PF: Markieff Morris
C: Andre Drummond
Key Reserves: Montrezl Harrell, Ben McLemore, Alex Caruso, Talen Horton-Tucker, Alfonzo McKinnie, Wesley Matthews, Marc Gasol
Projected Jazz Starting Lineup:
PG: Mike Conley
SG: Joe Ingles
SF: Bojan Bogdanovic
PF: Royce O’Neale
C: Rudy Gobert
Key Reserves: Jordan Clarkson, Derrick Favors, Ersan Ilyasova, Georges Niang, Matt Thomas, Miye Oni
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